This weekend the Serie A TitleRace is gathering pace with leaders Napoli on their way to the capital to hire Lazio, while Champions Inter is gone to Juventus.
Napoli will hope to make the third time lucky after they have lost back-to-back matches against Lazio in December, leaving the Coppa Italia at the first obstacle and the first place in the rankings in Atalanta.
The men of Antonio Conte have since recovered their place on top, compiled with a series of eight consecutive victories before their progress was delayed with successive treks against Roma and Udinese.
Inter could not take advantage of the dip of Napoli, where the derby was pulled with AC Milan before he spent a 3-0 defeat in their rear-back match with Fiorentina last week.
Inter bounced back from that defeat to Fiorentina to beat the same opposition 2-1 on the San Siro on Monday, and with the same number of matches that are now being played, Napoli clings to the first place through the slankest margins.
Conte has received a serious blow with David Neres who rises a thigh injury against Udinese, and the Brazilian winger could be out of operation for at least a month.
Neres started with the last nine games of Napoli, since the injury of Khvicha Kvaratskhelia at the 1-0 loss for Lazio in December, and was seen as a competent replacement now that the Georgian has left for Paris Saint-Germain.
Giacomo Raspadori is likely to replace Neres with Lazio, who will come in this draw at the back of two competition extraction. Lazio is in fourth place in the rankings, 10 points on Napoli.
Lazio can be stimulated by recent history.
Napoli has none of their last four games against Lazio in the Serie A (D1 L3), after they have won each of the previous four.
L'Ultima Volta Contro il Napoli#Lazionapoli#avantilazio pic.twitter.com/m246o7uays
– Sslazio (@officialsslazio) February 13, 2025
Inter and Juventus were now involved in one of the most entertaining matches of the season when they went to the San Siro 4-4 in October.
That was one of the 13 competition tracts this season for Juventus, so that they are brought out of the Scudetto struggle in fifth place and 12 points behind Napoli, but their self -confidence has been stimulated by their recent form.
Juve suffered their first competition -the defeat of the season in Napoli last month, but has since won two on the leap and Randal Kolo Muani has scored five times in three league games since he was on loan from PSG.
Inter has injuries doubts, in which both Marcus Thuram and Marko Arnautovic go with bumps in the victory over Fiorentina.
The Nerazzurri are unbeaten in their last three league matches against Juventus (W1 D2); In the last 45 years (since 1980) they have only recorded four consecutive games once without a defeat against the Bianceri in the Serie A
Atalanta, third in the rankings and five points outside the top location, will want to take advantage of any slip-ups from Napoli and Inter when they organize Cagliari on Saturday.
Seventh AC Milan in seventh place has a home game against Hellas Verona on Saturday.
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